


into the deep;

by devilfic



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Merman!AU, Multi, i went to the beach and had an epiphany, mermaid!au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-30 15:27:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20099446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devilfic/pseuds/devilfic
Summary: the moon moves the sea and the sea - a helpless, bewitched thing - moves for it.





	into the deep;

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted to tumblr.

“I don’t know about this, Peter.” Feet balanced at the edge separating rock from the ocean, you watch the dark water lap at your companion’s waiting fingers. Before, the stretch of warm skin between each of his digits had weirded you out so much that you refused to let him touch you at all for the first few months, but now… “It’s pretty deep.”

It really isn’t, but there’s a pleasant smile on his face as always and it never fails to make you wonder if perhaps the boy was a siren in disguise, eerily dedicated to dragging this friendship out for as long as possible until you were so captivated by him that he could drag you beneath the waves and you’d breathe it all in, breathe if he only asked. There is no malice in him though, as far as you know. You were pretty certain nothing evil could live inside him. “Then I won’t let you go.”

You screw your face up in a funny frown that makes Peter giggle (again, you consider the siren theory once more), “The waves are pretty strong tonight…”

It was your fear of the ocean that had made Peter extra cautious with you. He hadn’t meant to startle you that night, the strange human seated far closer to his favorite rocky cove by the water than he’d ever seen anyone venture before, and by the time he’d settled down on a boulder beside you, you’d collapsed into the water from shock.

His tail had scared you at first, all glimmering red and humming blue meeting together in the middle like blood meets water, and his glowing eyes shimmered an unnatural canary hue in the moonlight before melting to brown to calm you down. With the salty water up your nose and the strange boy keeping you from sinking to the bottom of the ocean, you had no choice but to listen to his rushed assurances that you were safe, that he wouldn’t hurt you, that you definitely weren’t having a stroke or something. 

By the time he’d set you back on the shore, you were up and running back to that blue house at the edge of the beach, never to be seen again. Well, until the next night.

“That’s because they can’t resist you, luna.” He grins like the little idiot he is while you pout and poke his arm with your toes. _ He would never give up on that nickname. _

“Hey! I told you you don’t need to call me that anymore. You know my name now.” 

“That is true, but I like to see you get flustered anyway.” In retaliation, you start to cross the line of rocks that would you lead you back to sand and Peter’s eyes widen in shock, “No, wait! I’ll stop teasing you, just… come back?”

You know deep down that you wouldn’t leave him tonight anyway. You’d been working up the courage to get this far for a while now and even Peter’s teasing wouldn’t be that strong of a deterrent at this point. He didn’t though, and that was enough revenge for you.

Sighing dramatically, you inch back down and he smiles up at you apologetically. “Listen, I know you’re scared, but I will keep a strong hold on you the _ entire _ time. I won’t stray far from shore either, so I’ll have you back on land faster than you can say my name.”

“I know.” You mumble.

“And you’ve been working so hard to overcome your fear since moving here, you’re doing so well!”

“I… thank you.”

“And I asked all the big, scary sea creatures to steer clear of the shore tonight just for you.”

“What if they don’t listen to you? What if a shark is feeling particularly rebellious? Or a jellyfish?” Narrowed eyes find the merman, and he chuckles softly to himself.

He leans on his elbows against your rock and lowers his voice as if you weren’t the only two people on the beach tonight, “Then I’ll show them my big merman muscles and scare them away.”

“There’s a flaw in your plan, big boy.” You drop until you’re crouching on top of the rock, a small, teasing smile making its way onto your face. Now that you’re just a few inches apart from Peter, you can see the ring of muted gold in his eyes. They twinkle. How cliche.

He stares back up at you with an equal amount of interest, “Oh, really? What is it?” 

You reach down and, to add to the very small but growing list of times you’ve initiated touch with him, grip his upper arm with your fingers. “I don’t see any big merman muscles.” You lie through your teeth.

Peter frowns and pushes himself up from his elbows until he’s eye to eye with you, flexing underneath your grip to prove you wrong. Then, he reaches one hand down and splashes you with the saltwater. Okay, you kinda deserved it. You giggle anyway.

Peter watches the tension in your shoulders drop as you focus on laughing instead, much to his mirthful joy. He holds out a webbed hand to you once more, “You trust me?”

Probably more than you expected to in the little time that you’d gotten to know him… but you didn’t need to verbalize that much anymore.

Your fingers meet his and he gently pulls you closer until you’re slipping your bare feet into the cool water. You let out a little mewl of discomfort when you feel the temperature, but Peter is nothing if not careful with you. He waits until you adjust before rearranging the hand in his to his shoulder, your other hand following suit without prompt.

Your middle meets his chest and he pushes himself away from the rock slowly, watching your face for any signs of retreat. You manage to keep a straight face even though your heart quickens against his. You hope it’s just because of the water.

Before long, you’re a few inches away from the shore and he lets you slide down until your legs wrap comfortably around his middle, feet brushing the scales of his tail. The feeling is both slick and rough, strong enough to whip back at the callous waves but smooth enough to remind you that Peter is not scary, that no part of him is ragged terror meant for nightmare fuel, but rather that he is a gentle creature just like the fish that swim past you. In a way, you are already aware of that fact, but focusing on it helps you think about anything other than the seemingly endless abyss below. 

“You’re okay,” he whispers softly, one arm wrapped under your thighs and the other tight around your back. You don’t think you could slip from his hold even if you wanted to, “How do you feel?”

“Kinda cold.” You admit with a slight shiver. Immediately (and perhaps to your great emotional distress), he presses closer to you. His body heat is not... unwelcome. You wrap your arms a little tighter around his neck until the space between your chest and his is bringing heat up to your chin. You feel the brush of Peter’s tail swishing back and forth underwater, being careful to keep your waist mostly above it.

With the waves licking at you both and the moon lighting up the night, it’s something like a movie. You feel like no camera in the world could possibly capture this moment - all of it - but you still wish you had one right about now. 

In fact, you’re so focused on the scenery that you don’t realize how far Peter has drifted you both from shore until you glance back out of curiosity. You let out a small gasp and cling to Peter like a lifeline, accelerating the merman’s bashfulness tenfold, “Whoa, hey, hey. You’re okay. Do you wanna go back?”

You look from the shore to Peter, snapping your neck to him with the quickness of a car crash, noting that his eyes are glowing a soft yellow. Before, they had been monstrous to you. The hue kept you up the first night you’d seen them up close, resembling all the ugly things of its color and the unknown. Over time, they became familiar, like sunflowers and raincoats. Had this been a few weeks ago, you might’ve screamed for him to take you back, that you would never come out this far again so help you God.

But oh, how they glimmer, convincing you that you were already in the safest place on earth. 

So you shake your head and feel every bit of the breathless laugh he releases in your bones. He squeezes your skin innocently with his hands and spins you to the side so that you both can look out to the moon together. You cast a worshipping look to the beautiful sky, “The moon really is quite breathtaking. No wonder the sea moves for it.”

You don’t see it, admiring the celestial body above you, but Peter is full in his cheeks with a blush that could rival the tip of his tail. “_ It _ really moves the sea. The sea is just brought along...” his voice tapers off some as he follows the moonlight’s curve down your jawline, bathing you silver, “...helpless, bewitched.”

Meeting his eyes this time, there is that something that’s switched in Peter that has you taking double- no, triple takes of his face because you can’t quite describe it. He’s looking at you like… like… 

“You make it sound like the sea is unwilling.”

Peter cracks a smile at that, entranced almost, “Not at all. Sometimes being taken like that is preferred, welcomed even, when it’s from someone you like.”

That something intensifies a little when you shift against him. He’s so close. _ It’s the first time _ . You’re touching him with nearly every bit of your body. _ Everywhere it matters _. All you can muster back is: “Peter?”

He’s the sea, looking at you like the moon.


End file.
